For us creative folks The Napkin has become a major design tool.
It is utilized in generating and recording ideas, or merely communicating inspirational or informational content. A sketch is just a great communicational tool instead of all those elaborate technical drawings, multi-dimensional renderings, or in-depth scientific papers.

And doing it is incredibly easy. People overestimate the complexity of sketching all the time. Ever since we were small children we have been able to doodle. But when growing up, we lost most of our sketching skills and insights. At least
most of us.

Wiping your mouth is one thing, but you don’t have to be a professional artist to know how to work a napkin. Just make sure you have the right drawing tool and a napkin and you are off.

The Napkin embodies creativity and innovation. Ideas originated outside your basic working hours, mostly written down on media such as the napkin, are often associated with out-of-the-box thinking. Not that napkin-based sketches directly result in more creativity and innovation,

but there sure is a coherence.

However, with the ever-increasing age of digitalization, sketching has become less popular. These days people tend to use
the tools they already master, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, 3DStudio Max and Rhino to make quick mockups of their ideas. It seems proper sketching is becoming a thing of the past.

In sticking with this ideology, we will be doing a special comparing the analogue versus the digital; the mouse versus the pen. Expect to read about this epic design battle in the coming weeks. Also, an upcoming article will deal with sketching bringing more value to your design process. It seems people perceive a design of higher value when presented with parts of the design process.

To provide you, the reader, with some background information on napkin sketching, you can download a great document titled Napkin Sketches 101 by Don Moyer. He offers nine quick tips on how you can improve napkin sketching.

So keep using those alternate napkin-like media and check back soon for more specials on The Napkin.